Haunted House Demolished!

The Incredible Story behind the Westbrook Beach Haunted House. It was truly a sad day yesterday, as many watched the iconic “Haunted House” in Westbrook being demolished to the ground. Whether you were there in person, or saw it on social media, it felt like a part of our history was being lost. We […]

The Incredible Story behind the Westbrook Beach Haunted House.

It was truly a sad day yesterday, as many watched the iconic “Haunted House” in Westbrook being demolished to the ground. Whether you were there in person, or saw it on social media, it felt like a part of our history was being lost. We were unable to find out why it was demolished, although some people have been speculating that it will be transformed into a commercial venture.

How many of you have driven past this landmark or visited this amazing house filled with mystery, history and graffiti? As the news of the haunted house being demolished spread, many people shared their memories and stories about this house. No one really knows why this is called the “haunted house”, but we would love to hear your stories and memories. Quite a few people are pretty serious about buying the property too!

Those of us born before the seventies will remember the “haunted house” as a majestic home standing proud in all its glory. Many of our kids however, know of it as the haunted house next to Beach Bums that’s great for Instragram pics and wedding shoots!

So we decided the find out the true story behind the person who owned the haunted house and found this very interesting explanation on a thread on “I Love Ballito” page by Neeran Naidoo.

“G.V Naidu was a South Indian businessman who came to Durban in the 1920s and he was the first Indian to sail on the Queen Elizabeth. He came to Durban as an industrialist to venture in the property, livestock and butchery fields. He stayed in Umgeni Road but built a beach house in the Casuarian Beach area, few kilometres north of the Umdloti River. The first house to be built there was in 1926. Mr G.V Naidu owned over 100 acres of land.

The Haunted House in all it’s glory – Source I Love Hermanus

The house was surrounded by Casuarian trees, and built with wood as a single storey house at first, with a huge roof garden. It had 6 bedrooms, 2 lounges and 2 kitchens and 2 bathrooms. There was a pump for water and a power generator, which was across the M4 (which was built later). The house had lead stained glass windows. The doors of the house had pictures of ships, and the bathroom was in the Victorian Style, a suggestion that Mr Naidu led a luxurious life, unlike his counterparts who came to Durban to work as indentured labourers.

The house was also the first house in that area to have an old wind-up telephone and lights. Mr Naidu held all his family gatherings at this location and also received many famous South Indian visitors through the years. There were also movie shoots at this location; the most famous of which was the Heart of the Matter, filmed in the 1980’s. The beach where the house was situated was known as the G.V’s Channel.” Source of Story – The Independent on Saturday 19 March 2011 by Yoveshine Pillay

The Haunted House in Westbrook has become a canvas for many graffiti artists, photographers and curious passers by and although it will be missed, we are quite curious to find out what the future plans are for the property – anyone out there know anything?